No, not those high-tech carbon-fibre poles you find in the shops (but thank you Santa), rather fallen branches of "just that right length" used by previous guests to help conquer peaks on the Main Range. They can't have been here long as this renovated stone cottage at Creel Bay near the entrance gate to Kosciuszko National Park has only been open to the public for a few months.

It was just below here at the confluence of the Thredbo and Snowy rivers that legendary stockman James Spencer established a small pastoral holding in the 1850s. James guided many pioneer luminaries including poet Banjo Paterson into the heart of Kosciuszko in the late 1800s.

However, our cottage is a far cry from those pioneer days. Built in the 1950s from local stone for conservationist Neville Gare, the park's first superintendent, it is perfectly-suited for those wanting to explore the vast realms of Kosciuszko National Park by day and return at night to all the comforts and mod cons.

The windows with views over Lake Jindabyne are double-glazed, there are air conditioners in each of the three bedrooms and a knock-out gas fire takes pride of place in the living area. Heck, there's even heated towel racks in both bathrooms. I guess they'd come in handy during a blizzard, but we're here in mid-summer. And what's more this year we've ditched the annual pilgrimage along the summit trail to Mt Kosciuszko to instead explore a couple of other less busy trails. These tracks along with new sections under construction will eventually combine to form the 44 kilometres-long "Iconic Snowies Walk" and link the villages of Thredbo, Charlotte Pass, Guthega, Perisher and Lake Crackenback.

"Part of the reason for the walk is to formalise some tracks away from the existing Main Range track and to make accessible those parts of Kosciuszko that unless you are a keen walker, you aren't really going to explore," explains Maggie Sutcliffe, the acting manager of the Alpine-Queanbeyan Area for NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service.

While we in Canberra may not have heard much of the walk (yet!), the track will breathe much-needed life into the NSW alpine villages, which apart from Thredbo are ghost towns over summer. Steve Young at the Alpine Eyre Kiosk, located near Perisher, can't wait. "The track will come straight past here!" he exclaims, no doubt hoping to hear future summer ka-chings on the cash register to rival that after a winter snow dump.

But it seems some resorts aren't quite summer-ready yet. Like Charlotte Pass, where at the only cafe open, a wannabee barista hands Mrs Yowie a take-away coffee made on long-life milk and complete with wrong-sized lid. It's boiling and too hot to drink. Oh, and after striding out along the 6 kilometres Porcupine Track (an easy walk for all the family) we couldn't even find a toilet within cooee of the track head in Perisher.

Next day after Mrs Yowie is much more happily caffeinated (hard to beat the Alpine Larder at Lake Crackenback), we tackle the dramatic 10 kilometres return trek from Charlotte Pass to Blue Lake. The track crosses the Snowy River via a series of stepping stones where, while dipping our big toes in the water (it's obligatory, isn't it?), much to my 10-year-old daughter Emily's embarrassment ("People will hear you Daddy") I can't help but break out into Banjo's famous verse.

But it's not long before the words "Up by Kosciuszko's side, where the hills are twice as steep and twice as rough" come back to haunt me. For it's a real huff and puff up to Blue Lake, a cirque excavated by the action of glacial ice moving downslope under gravity between 30,000 and 15,000 years ago. But it's oh so worth it. When Emily first sets eyes on the lake living up to its name in brilliant sunshine, she gushes "It's beautiful," and asks, "Is it actually real?". Rare praise from a kid who this time last year, during the trip of a lifetime across the Pacific, labelled the Grand Canyon as "just a big brown hole in the ground".

Back at the Charlotte Pass turning circle, we bump into Richard Swain, a river guide and good friend of this column who explains it was his father who installed some of the stepping stones at the river crossing. I want to find out more but the kids are spent. They're spread-eagled on the ground. They want an ice cream. And deservedly so.

A cold change beats us back to Creel Bay, where little flakes of sleet greet us when we arrive just like it would have so many times for superintendent Gare. No need for an ice cream now. Instead we turn on the fire and yes Mrs Yowie even cranks up the temperature on the towel rack.

Next morning we remember to return the four sticks-come-walking poles to the back door. Hopefully they'll still be here when the track between Guthega and Charlotte Pass, the first new section of the Snowies Iconic Walk, opens in autumn. We can't wait.

Mrs Yowie just hopes the barista at Charlotte Pass will have mastered the art of making coffee by then.

Creel Bay Cottages: Bunk down on one of two newly renovated cottages at Creel Bay, both similarly positioned, just with slightly different layouts. We stayed in Cottage 2, which is a little larger, has two bathrooms and a gas-log fireplace. The outdoor area in Cottage 3 overlooks Lake Jindabyne. Cottage 1 isn't open to the public. Book online through nationalparks.nsw.gov.au or call the National Parks Contact Centre on 1300 072 757.

Snowies Iconic Walk: This multi-day trek across the roof of Australia is 44 kilometres long and uses a mix of existing trails, and 25 kilometres of realigned or new track across the Main Range of Kosciuszko National Park to link the resorts of Thredbo, Charlotte Pass, Guthega, Perisher and Lake Crackenback. The walk is due for completion in 2022, with staged openings over the next two years. Although some fitness fanatics will attempt to walk the entire track in record time, the walk is designed as four comfortable stand-alone day walks (Guthega to Charlotte Pass, Main range loop via Mt Kosciuszko back to Charlotte Pass, Charlotte Pass to Perisher, and Perisher to Lake Crackenback). Each track section is approximately 10-15 kilometres long. Walkers can choose to do any section of the track as single day walks or longer overnight walks.

Did You Know? About 1.7 kilometres of old track near Mt Lee has already been realigned to protect one of the rarest plant communities in the world, the windswept feldmark. Plants grown at the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra are now being used to rehabilitate bypassed feldmark.

Loos with a view: There are plans for toilets at the track heads along with existing facilities at Rawson Pass and a new outhouse at Seamans Hut (on the track between Charlotte Pass and Rawson Pass).

CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie St, Fyshwick

Clue: Help!

Degree of difficulty: Medium

Last week: Congratulations to Geoff Thompson, of Campbell, who was first to identify last week's photo as a toy plane at the Shell Service Station on the Princes Highway at Coila Creek, near Tuross Head.

"When we whizzed past the servo earlier this week we noticed that both the mannequin (with its changing displays of bikinis) and the long-standing sign advertising prawns had disappeared," remarks Geoff, who asks "has there been a change of ownership?" Indeed there has, and when your Akubra-clad columnist recently caught up with the new owner she advised "the mannequin was stolen and we decided not to replace it".

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and suburb to tym@iinet.net.au The first email sent after 10am, Saturday, January 2, 2021, wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.

"It seems that size doesn't make any difference when feeding is involved," reports Mark Douglas, who recently captured this photo of a wattlebird feeding a much larger koel chick in his Duffy backyard. Koels lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, leaving other species to raise their young. If you have a koel in your yard, you'll hear it before you see it as their penetrating calls (a far-carrying "coo-ee") can be relentless, both day and night.

The dozen or so seals that have taken up residence on the southern breakwall at Narooma are captivating holidaymakers with their antics - sunbaking on the rocks and catching passing fish. A must-see if on the Sapphire Coast. Take a peg for your nose, though, as you'll smell the seals before you see them.